What do you think?
Rate this book
Global Jihad: A Brief History
Most violent jihadi movements in the twentieth century focused on removing corrupt, repressive secular regimes throughout the Muslim world. But following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a new form of jihadism emerged—global jihad—turning to the international arena as the primary locus of ideology and action. With this book, Glenn E. Robinson develops a compelling and provocative argument about this violent political movement's evolution. Global Jihad tells the story of four distinct jihadi waves, each with its own program for achieving a global whether a Jihadi International to liberate Muslim lands from foreign occupation; al-Qa'ida's call to drive the United States out of the Muslim world; ISIS using "jihadi cool" to recruit followers; or leaderless efforts of stochastic terror to "keep the dream alive." Robinson connects the rise of global jihad to other "movements of rage" such as the Nazi Brownshirts, White supremacists, Khmer Rouge, and Boko Haram. Ultimately, he shows that while global jihad has posed a low strategic threat, it has instigated an outsized reaction from the United States and other Western nations.
260 pages, Hardcover
Published November 10, 2020
4 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 29, 2021
This one was a mixed bag for me...
Author Glenn E. Robinson is on the faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and is affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served as an expert advisor to USAID and the US Department of Defense.
Glenn E. Robinson:
Global Jihad: A Brief History is pretty much exactly what its title promises; Robinson takes the reader through the recent history of global jihad. Most of the larger players central to this story are covered here; including Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and the Islamic State.
It should be noted that there are, broadly speaking, two different concepts of "jihad"; the greater jihad, which refers to one's own struggle to remain a pious observer of the religion, and the lesser jihad; which is the forwarding of Islamic political aims through the pen, spoken word, the sword, or money.
The writing here focuses on the lesser, or (in this case) the military application of jihad.
Although global jihad may be a relatively new phenomenon, the concept of jihad itself has been around since the inception of the religion. Jihad is a central part of the Islamic doctrine; and is seen by some theologians as "the 6th pillar of Islam".
And while the current iteration of global jihad consists mostly of small-scale terrorist and suicide attacks, jihad has been used as a vehicle to spread Islam to the "dar al harb" for all of Islam's ~1,400-year history. Conquesting wars of jihad played a large part in how the Middle East, North Africa and Spain (for ~700 years) became Islamic.
A collection of writings regarding jihad in the Qur'an can be found here, for anyone interested. Some additional writing, including excerpts from Sahih Bukhari can be found here.
Instead of providing the reader here with this relevant scriptural and historical context, the narrative played out by Robinson in these pages seems to take an apologetic stance; portraying jihad as strictly a reaction to western occupations of Islamic lands, and defensive violence, to avenge losses inflicted on Muslims by the kuffārs.
Robinson loses some points on this review for not covering this in the book.
In fact, contrary to what some westerner apologists like this book's author may believe, and may want you to believe, infidel occupation of Muslim lands is not the primary reason for the terror attacks of groups like The Islamic State. We can go straight to the source material and hear it directly from the Islamic State themselves. The IS published a magazine called "Dabiq." Named after a small Syrian city; the magazine is briefly mentioned here by the author. What is somehow not mentioned by the author, however, is the article titled: "Why We Hate You, and Why We Fight You", which examines exactly that.
A list of 6 primary grievances are cited in the article. They are:
The fact that the above was not included by the author here makes me wonder if the author knew this and deliberately didn't include it, or did not include it because he was not aware of it. In the first case; he would be not entirely honest. In the latter; he did not do a thorough enough job of his research in writing this book. Which scenario is worse? I'm not sure...
Robinson also spends a bit of time in the intro of the book talking about the invented and somewhat nonsensical term "Islam-ism." There is no "Islamism"; it's all Islam. He writes that Islamism is political Islam. The addition of the "ism" to Islam is redundant; as Islamic doctrine is inherently political. The fact that a large number of its adherents may or may not have political ambitions says nothing about what the religious scripture dictates.
Global Jihad was a somewhat interesting look at modern, global jihad, but not without some serious, glaring flaws. Points knocked off for the rather suspect omission of historical and scriptural context, as well as the omission of the Dabiq article.
2 stars.
Author Glenn E. Robinson is on the faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and is affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served as an expert advisor to USAID and the US Department of Defense.
Glenn E. Robinson:
Global Jihad: A Brief History is pretty much exactly what its title promises; Robinson takes the reader through the recent history of global jihad. Most of the larger players central to this story are covered here; including Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and the Islamic State.
It should be noted that there are, broadly speaking, two different concepts of "jihad"; the greater jihad, which refers to one's own struggle to remain a pious observer of the religion, and the lesser jihad; which is the forwarding of Islamic political aims through the pen, spoken word, the sword, or money.
The writing here focuses on the lesser, or (in this case) the military application of jihad.
Although global jihad may be a relatively new phenomenon, the concept of jihad itself has been around since the inception of the religion. Jihad is a central part of the Islamic doctrine; and is seen by some theologians as "the 6th pillar of Islam".
And while the current iteration of global jihad consists mostly of small-scale terrorist and suicide attacks, jihad has been used as a vehicle to spread Islam to the "dar al harb" for all of Islam's ~1,400-year history. Conquesting wars of jihad played a large part in how the Middle East, North Africa and Spain (for ~700 years) became Islamic.
A collection of writings regarding jihad in the Qur'an can be found here, for anyone interested. Some additional writing, including excerpts from Sahih Bukhari can be found here.
Instead of providing the reader here with this relevant scriptural and historical context, the narrative played out by Robinson in these pages seems to take an apologetic stance; portraying jihad as strictly a reaction to western occupations of Islamic lands, and defensive violence, to avenge losses inflicted on Muslims by the kuffārs.
Robinson loses some points on this review for not covering this in the book.
In fact, contrary to what some westerner apologists like this book's author may believe, and may want you to believe, infidel occupation of Muslim lands is not the primary reason for the terror attacks of groups like The Islamic State. We can go straight to the source material and hear it directly from the Islamic State themselves. The IS published a magazine called "Dabiq." Named after a small Syrian city; the magazine is briefly mentioned here by the author. What is somehow not mentioned by the author, however, is the article titled: "Why We Hate You, and Why We Fight You", which examines exactly that.
A list of 6 primary grievances are cited in the article. They are:
1) We hate you, first and foremost, because you are disbelievers; you reject the oneness of Allah – whether you realize it or not – by making partners for Him in worship, you blaspheme against Him, claiming that He has a son, you fabricate lies againstImportantly, the article then goes on to explain things further, so as to clear up any confusion:
His prophets and messengers, and you indulge in all manner of devilish practices.
2) We hate you because your secular, liberal societies permit the very things that Allah has prohibited while banning many of the things He has permitted.
3) In the case of the atheist fringe, we hate you and wage war against you because you disbelieve in the existence of your Lord and Creator.
4) We hate you for your crimes against Islam and wage war against you to punish you for your transgressions against our religion.
5) We hate you for your crimes against the Muslims; your drones and fighter jets bomb, kill, and maim our people around the world.
6) We hate you for invading our lands and fight you to repel you and drive you out.
"What’s important to understand here is that although some might argue that your foreign policies are the extent of what drives our hatred, this particular reason for hating you is secondary, hence the reason we addressed it at the end of the above list. The fact is, even if you were to stop bombing us, imprisoning us, torturing us, vilifying us, and usurping our lands, we would continue to hate you because our primary reason for hating you will not cease to exist until you embrace Islam. Even if you were to pay jizyah and live under the authority of Islam in humiliation, we would continue to hate you. No doubt, we would stop fighting you then as we would stop fighting any disbelievers who enter into a covenant with us, but we would not stop hating you.
What’s equally if not more important to understand is that we fight you, not simply to punish and deter you, but to bring you true freedom in this life and salvation in the Hereafter, freedom from being enslaved to your whims and desires as well as those of your clergy and legislatures, and salvation by worshiping your Creator alone and following His messenger. We fight you in order to bring you out from the darkness of disbelief and into the light of Islam, and to liberate you from the constraints of living for the sake of the worldly life alone so that you may enjoy both the blessings of the worldly life and the bliss of the Hereafter..."
The fact that the above was not included by the author here makes me wonder if the author knew this and deliberately didn't include it, or did not include it because he was not aware of it. In the first case; he would be not entirely honest. In the latter; he did not do a thorough enough job of his research in writing this book. Which scenario is worse? I'm not sure...
Robinson also spends a bit of time in the intro of the book talking about the invented and somewhat nonsensical term "Islam-ism." There is no "Islamism"; it's all Islam. He writes that Islamism is political Islam. The addition of the "ism" to Islam is redundant; as Islamic doctrine is inherently political. The fact that a large number of its adherents may or may not have political ambitions says nothing about what the religious scripture dictates.
Global Jihad was a somewhat interesting look at modern, global jihad, but not without some serious, glaring flaws. Points knocked off for the rather suspect omission of historical and scriptural context, as well as the omission of the Dabiq article.
2 stars.
January 31, 2022
Reviewing this for H-Net so I'll post the link once that's done. Outstanding study overall even if I disagreed with a few of the author's larger historical interpretations.
December 29, 2024
All books on current events, and particularly on events in the Middle East, are not created equal. I read this work recently for some graduate study in Middle Eastern History and while Dr. Robinson has his credentials--and since life is short--for the general reader I recommend you go to Fawaz Gerges' "ISIS A History" (also reviewed on Goodreads) instead. Regarding the Gerges work, try to find the 2017 paperback edition with the new preface.
This is only a brief review and not an academic paper so I won't go into all the ways Robinson falls short, but I will give two examples. The first is, Robinson is pleased to divide the Jihadi movement or Islamist movement into several time-periods, but I don't think this is helpful. In fact, it makes this whole subject more confusing. My contention would be that, if you look at Islamic fundamentalism as one coherent stream from about 1950 to the present, several common threads, recurring themes, and even dominant personalities become clear.
Second, and this is easily verifiable from scanning the headlines since 2020, Robinson predicted that after the fall of ISIS in Iraq and mostly in Syria, "lone wolf" attacks would preponderate. In other words, disaffected Muslim youths in Europe and North America would take to the streets blowing up buses, creating mayhem, and what have you. I'm happy to report, in large part this didn't happen. Defeat of ISIS on the ground has for the most part meant the decrease in "lone wolf" attacks--not the opposite. So this theory of Robinson's was wrong. Of course, don't get me wrong, there will always be attacks by individuals who have been "radicalized" in the Middle East and elsewhere--but as a general phenomenon, this is not at present on the increase.
So for studying the contemporary Middle East, I would put this volume on the second tier.
This is only a brief review and not an academic paper so I won't go into all the ways Robinson falls short, but I will give two examples. The first is, Robinson is pleased to divide the Jihadi movement or Islamist movement into several time-periods, but I don't think this is helpful. In fact, it makes this whole subject more confusing. My contention would be that, if you look at Islamic fundamentalism as one coherent stream from about 1950 to the present, several common threads, recurring themes, and even dominant personalities become clear.
Second, and this is easily verifiable from scanning the headlines since 2020, Robinson predicted that after the fall of ISIS in Iraq and mostly in Syria, "lone wolf" attacks would preponderate. In other words, disaffected Muslim youths in Europe and North America would take to the streets blowing up buses, creating mayhem, and what have you. I'm happy to report, in large part this didn't happen. Defeat of ISIS on the ground has for the most part meant the decrease in "lone wolf" attacks--not the opposite. So this theory of Robinson's was wrong. Of course, don't get me wrong, there will always be attacks by individuals who have been "radicalized" in the Middle East and elsewhere--but as a general phenomenon, this is not at present on the increase.
So for studying the contemporary Middle East, I would put this volume on the second tier.
August 28, 2022
A very sharp and brief account of the rise and growth of Modern Islamic jihad.
February 13, 2023
Definitely a brief history of global jihad but hits the high points.
April 14, 2023
it wasn't terribly divided up, a mediocre primer on the topic.
Read
August 7, 2025completed for school
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews